Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth Collection

Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth (April 11, 1837 – May 24, 1861) grew up in Mechanicville, New York, and was a law clerk and United States Army soldier, best known as the first conspicuous casualty of the American Civil War. The American Civil War took place in the 1860s and is known as the bloodiest war for the United States, with at least 600,000 soldier casualties.